General Photography Chat

[flar]

I bought this lens because I wanted a faster medium telephoto for portraits and street photography, especially candids. This is not a macro, but could be used for flowers. The minimum focus distance is about 2.5 to 3 feet. 105mm is 158mm on a D90, which is starting to get long, but still okay for portraits. 85mm would be better for posed portraits, but too short for candid people shots on the street. It's a manual focus only because I can't afford a fast autofocus telephoto prime (this lens was cheap, it's probably over 25 years old). The other consideration is the viewfinder on the D90 and other cropped sensor DSLRs is small, which makes manual focus difficult with shorter lenses. 105mm magnifies the image in the viewfinder enough that I can focus.

I think a lot of the older Nikon lenses are known to suffer from bad CA when bright light shines directly into the front of the lens. I actually thought the D90 was supposed to correct that, but maybe it only works with modern lenses that communicate electronically with the camera.

edit: I forgot to add that I moved to Ottawa in April 2009

[Kingofthehill]

Originally Posted by flar

85mm would be better for posed portraits, but too short for candid people shots on the street.

Uh, as a diehard user of the 85mm (crop), I find that hardly true.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Uh, as a diehard user of the 85mm (crop), I find that hardly true.

I guess I should say too short for me, I don't like to get that close to people.

I thought you wanted something slightly longer?

[Doady]

I almost always use 55mm (no crop) for people on the street, lol... I usually photograph people up close. I think it has a different look but maybe I imagine things. The people photos from my Toronto thread are all 55mm equivalent, for example. If I was a Nikon user my preferred choice would probably be the 35mm F1.8 as on a "crop" camera it is 52mm equivalent.

I guess 85mm equivalent is the "classic" portrait focal length for the head-and-shoulder shot, but I haven't tried that kind of photo yet as my camera cannot have good bokeh anyways.

I know from seeing other photos here, that photographers here tend to photograph from a much farther distance than I do, so different issues.

Originally Posted by flar

I think a lot of the older Nikon lenses are known to suffer from bad CA when bright light shines directly into the front of the lens.

Yeah, legacy lenses are not optimized for sensors, it is not just Nikon. But it is strange that the CA is so pronounced, and it is in middle as well as the corners. And also it is just that one shot, there is not much CA at all, if any, in the others, so I couldn't help but notice.

If you shoot RAW, you might be able to get rid of it easily in Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom. This is reason I often shoot RAW now.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Doady

Yeah, legacy lenses are not optimized for sensors, it is not just Nikon. But it is strange that the CA is so pronounced, and it is in middle as well as the corners. And also it is just that one shot, there is not much CA at all, if any, in the others, so I couldn't help but notice.

If you shoot RAW, you might be able to get rid of it easily in Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom. This is reason I often shoot RAW now.

I was out using the 105mm lens at lunchtime and after work on Monday and found there is CA on any shot of silver/chrome shining in the sun. I haven't noticed anything on other shots, but I don't look that closely. I don't have a lens hood for it yet, but I'll just steer clear of photographing shiny chrome with this lens.

Otherwise, this is now my favourite lens. The build and feel make my modern plastic lenses seem so cheap. From f4 on, it's extremely sharp and the bokeh is rich and creamy. I tried some macro with it and got some nice cropped shots of insects and flowers (I'll post examples when my home internet starts working again).

[flar]

Here are some handheld closeups with the 105mm f/2.5. It's not a macro lens by any stretch, but a pleasure to use:





To show how well this lens resolves detail, this one is a 100% crop of a jpeg straight from the camera with no sharpening or other post processing (the D90 sensor is pretty awesome too).

[toyota74]

The tokina 11-16mm came in the post....bout time.
Really strange going ultra wide and am excited
messing around with it in the coming days...

[Ramsayfarian]

If anyone here is interested in studio photography, Zack Arias is doing a 3 day workshop on the internets this weekend. First part is going on right now.

http://creativelive.com/live/

[Ayreonaut]

So I decided I'm not going to post a thread for all the European cities I have left. For the most part, I just don't have enough good shots to warrant threads (for cities like Munich, Nice, Barcelona).
Lisbon might get its own, and then I'll be posting a comprehensive thread with my overall favourite shots from the trip. I can't believe that was already a year ago.

[ue]

LOL! And to think you have a bunch of stuff from this year!

[Ayreonaut]

I know. That actually made my decision easier. When I look back at last years photos, they're really not that great, so why even bother editing all of them.

Then in August I'll be moving to Newfoundland, and will certainly be taking hundreds, if not thousands of photos from around the island.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^There's nothing to see here.

[Ayreonaut]

So the commercials are lying???

[vid]

No, there is nothing to see in Newfoundland. All the cool shit is in Labrador.

[Ayreonaut]

Meh, I'll get there too. Though I hear getting off the island can be a pain.

[vid]

To get to Labrador, you take a three day ferry. I asked my Newfie friend if anyone ever has sex on it, and he said "probably not", but who knows? You might get lucky.

[Doady]

I just noticed today that my camera's grip is starting to become loose. So for sure I will have to buy a new camera this year.

It is kind of sad, it is the only camera I ever used, and I've had it for over six years. I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to upgrade but there is no choice now. But I guess if not the grip then eventually some other problem (do point and shoot cameras have shutter failure?). I was hoping the camera could at least remain as a backup even if I did upgrade, but obviously 6+ years too much to expect.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by vid

To get to Labrador, you take a three day ferry. I asked my Newfie friend if anyone ever has sex on it, and he said "probably not", but who knows? You might get lucky.

It's a really short ferry ride, or you can grab a plane to Labrador. But just getting to Labrador doesn't get you into the park. Using the Torngat Mountains as an advertisement to the general public for tourism in NL is a bit misleading. It's not exactly an accessible destination. You'd have to charter in or sail up the Labrador coast to get there. Inside the park, I've heard that you have to have a guide with you, although that does not seem to be the case as stated on the Parks Canada website. You also need to get consent from the Nunatsiavut Government. I like the section on visitor safety. While most of that is standard stuff for backpacking anywhere, the polar bear stuff is a bit disconcerting.

From the Parks Canada website:

Originally Posted by Parks Canada

Access to Torngat Mountains National Park by charter.
From your access point of either Nain in Labrador, or Kangiqsualujjuaq in Québec, you will need to arrange a form of charter transportation. Air or boat charters from Nain are currently the most common means of accessing the park in the summer, and snowmobiles or air charters are used in the winter. Aircraft charter services are available out of Goose Bay, Labrador and Kuujjuaq in Nunavik. Boat charters with Inuit guides may be arranged in Nain and Makkovik. Call the national park office direct at 709-922-1290 for more information (pour le service en français composez 709-458-2417). Staff can help put you in contact with local operators.

Landing permits are required for any aircraft or helicopter landing in the national park and can be applied for as part of the registration process. It is the responsibility of the visitor to obtain the landing permit and present it to the air charter pilot.

I have a few acquaintances from MUN that are doing their graduate research in Labrador and have been out collecting data a few times. I'm very jealous.

[Aleks]

Hello members! As some of you know, my camera was stolen last month. This month I had my birthday and graduation which means presents! I didn't ask for anything for my birthday but I did ask for a 2 Terrabyte external hardrive for graduation.

I'm gonna reset my computer to it's original factory condition and start from the beginning. I'm saving all my work as we speak! 180gigs of pictures (around 178gigs of those are pictures I actually took!) and everything else! I'm glad I got this EH (external hard-drive) because now I can back up all my work. Phewww!

Anyways, in about 3-6 weeks I'll get another D90. I feel bad because this time my moms buying my camera, but it hurts to not have a camera. I feel like I did the weeks after my cat ran away

Anyways, just a little commenting since I haven't been on in a while. I hope I get to take pictures very soon.

[ue]

How did your camera get stolen? That really sucks Aleks.